There are many dungeons you can challenge throughout your journey in Destiny 2, with some being easier than others. One of the dungeons that causes some trouble for some players is The Duality Dungeon.
The Duality Dungeon introduces a lot of unique mechanics not seen in any other Destiny 2 encounter.
Recommended Read: How to Get Contraverse Hold in Destiny 2
This guide will help you through your very first Duality Dungeon clear and act as a great source to refresh your memory if you are a returning player.
Table of Contents
Introduction
The Duality Dungeon is a deep dive into the mind of Emporer Calus, literally. You will be tasked with navigating your way through Calus’ mind and retrieving the information that the Vanguard is after.
A central theme of the Dungeon is the use of the Nightmare Realm.
Entering the Nightmare Realm will eliminate certain obstacles that were previously in your way and, in some instances, teleport you to a completely new area during an encounter.
Clever use of this mechanic is key for this Dungeon. Note that you will need to own either the Witch Queen Deluxe Edition Expansion or the Dungeon Pass DLC in order to access the Duality Dungeon.
You will find the Dungeon ready to be launched on the Moon Map.
How to Complete the Duality Dungeon
The first encounter will have you drop down into your first puzzle. You will be trapped inside a room with a single grated doorway. Past the window, sitting in the center of the next room, is a Bell.
Shooting the Bell will teleport you and your Fireteam into the Nightmare Realm, removing the grate on your door and allowing you to pass into the next room.
To return from the Nightmare Realm and go back to reality, you will need to shoot the Bell again. Make sure that you and your Fireteam are all standing inside of the circle that is now around the Bell when returning.
Anyone outside of the circle when the Bell is shot will die. This is the single most important mechanic in this Dungeon that you will use time and time again.
From here, fight your way up to the top layer of the room. You should see another Bell on the opposite side of the room once you are at the top.
Shoot the Bell, head towards it, and return to reality. Repeat this process with all of the Bells you find along this platforming section.
Nightmare of Gahlran, Sorrow Bearer
This is your first Boss encounter in the Dungeon. The room layout contains a Bell on either side of the encounter, along with a symbol in each of the corners.
These symbols are Dog, Chalice, Sun, and Axes. Try to remember where each symbol is before starting the encounter.
After using your rally flag, shoot the Bell to begin the encounter. You will be put into the Nightmare realm with the currently-immune Nightmare Boss Gahlran.
You will have a timer one-minute timer after entering the Nightmare Realm before it collapses and kills everyone inside of it. Your team will need to pay attention to this timer.
Your goal is to find the Nightmare Bellkeeper enemies and kill them, opening up the Bell on the opposite side of the arena so that you can go back to reality when needed.
While one of your Fireteam members handles the Bellkeepers, the other two should focus on finding the Standard Bearer enemies. Killing them will drop a Standard Essence that you will need to take with you to reality.
The Standard Bearers can be found in the four corners of the encounter. Try to bring back two Standard Essences if possible.
Once back to reality, deposit your Standard Essence on its respective symbol to unlock the door just behind the standard. Head into this new room, clear out all enemies, and remain inside the room while your teammate activates the Bell.
This will put you inside of a previously inaccessible room inside of the Nightmare Realm. Here, you will find many Vision of Gahlran enemies.
These weak enemies should be killed as quickly as possible before meeting up with the rest of your team. After all Visions have been killed, you will be able to deal damage to the Boss.
Note that your damage window will depend on your Nightmare Collapsing timer. Be sure to get back to the Bell before this timer ends.
After dealing your damage and returning to reality, rinse and repeat the encounter until you kill the Boss. Swords, Shotguns, and other close-quarters DPS weapons will serve you well.
Quick Statue Puzzle
After a short jump puzzle, you will enter into a room with several statues, each pointing a different direction.
Activating the Bell in the middle of the room will take you into the Nightmare Realm and show you that each of the statues needs to be pointing at the Bell to progress.
Behind each of the statues in the Nightmare Realm, you will see a button. Interacting with this button will rotate the statue 90 degrees clockwise in reality.
Go between the realms as much as you need to find the correct orientation for each statue. Once they are all pointing at the Bell, a door will open up beneath the Bell that leads to the next encounter.
The Vault
In the middle of this encounter, you will see two of the four possible symbols being displayed on the floor. These symbols correspond to the four corners of the room.
The Boss will be immune and there will be many enemies flooding the room. You will need to find and kill the Bell Keepers.
Once the Bell is ready, find the two corners of the room that match your symbols and have one player stand on each corner before entering the Nightmare Realm.
From here, you should see a pathway open up that leads from your corner of the room to a horde of enemies.
Clear out your room, kill the Standard Bearer that spawns in, and pick up your Standard Escense before meeting back up with your team at the Bell.
You will want to have two players focusing on the separate Standards while one player finds and kills the Bell Keepers to prepare for your exit. Once back in reality, deposit your Standards in the middle of the room.
After both Standards have been deposited, the Boss will no longer be immune. Killing it will progress the encounter.
Repeat this process, finding the correct corners of the room and bringing back the Standards that correspond to the symbols in the middle of the room until you have killed all three Bosses.
Note that killing the incorrect Standard Bearer will significantly decrease your Nightmare Collapsing timer. It is important to make sure you follow the correct path once inside of the Nightmare Realm.
Final Jump Puzzle
Again, you will need to use the Bells to navigate your way to the next encounter. Focus on going as high as possible in most of the rooms before finding a chute with a red light that will lead you to the final Boss encounter.
Nightmare of Caiatl, Princess-Imperial
This encounter will have a lot of enemies. Bring a Loadout that focuses on survival.
In the middle of the room, you will see four sets of chains that lead to the ceiling. Each chain will have a symbol in front of it.
Only two of these symbols will glow. These are the Standards that you need to acquire.
In the four corners of the room, you will see four upper platforms where Sniper Psions spawn. Each platform will have a Symbol banner.
Kill the Bell Keepers and have two players stand on either of the upper platforms that correspond to the Standards you need. Shoot the Bell to enter the Nightmare Realm and kill the Psion that spawns right next to the players on the upper platforms.
These Scions will drop your Standard Escenses. Kill the Bell Keepers and return to reality before depositing your Standard Essences.
Repeat this process with your remaining two symbols. Once you have deposited all four Standards, the chains will begin to glow red, allowing you to damage them.
Destroying all four chains will sound the large Bell and teleport your Fireteam to the Nightmare Realm, along with Caiatl. This will begin your damage phase, though you will need to complete one more mechanic.
Caiatl will begin walking towards one of the three Bells. You will need to kill the Bell Keepers closest to that Bell in order to gain access to it.
Wait until Caiatl is close to the Bell before activating it, stunning her, and extending your damage phase. Be sure to stand inside of the Bell circle as well to gain the Waking Resonate Buff, massively increasing your damage dealt to Caiatl.
Repeat this process for all three Bells to maximize your damage phase. Once you are teleported back to reality, you will need to repeat the encounter until Caiatl is defeated.
You are now ready for your first clear of the Duality Dungeon!
What loot are you hoping to get from this Dungeon? Let me know in the comments!
